Charlie Spence

As 2018 opens with new possibilities of hope, Kid CAT would like to take a moment to reflect on 2017 with a bit of gratitude. This past year brought many meaningful changes to the criminal justice system and provided a landscape of hope for a number of youth offenders who previously had none.

Some of the key changes include AB 1308, which extends the youth offender parole criteria to the age of 25; SB 394, which allows youth offenders sentenced to LWOP a “meaningful” chance of parole in their 25th year of incarceration, and Proposition 57, which, in part, reverses the “direct file” clause of Proposition 21 that afforded prosecutors the discretion to try youth offenders as adults without judicial input. Proposition 57 also expands “good time” credits to many offenders.

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

These three pieces of legislation add to the recent passage of laws, which recognize the redemptive nature of youthful offenders and the power of hope to drive that potential.

In fact, in 2017, our organization directly experienced the hope provided by these kinds of legislation. As a result of SB 260 and SB 261, we had a 100 percent grant rate for our members who appeared in front of the board. Five of our members were found suitable, and three have already returned to their communities with great success this year alone.

Their success is not strictly due to the recent passage of “youth” legislation, however. It is also due to each of these men taking accountability for the hope provided by the legislation and working intentionally to transform their lives as a result of it. It is our hope at Kid CAT that everyone affected by these laws will do the same and give themselves the best opportunity for freedom and success.

Back row: Isiah Fields, Charlie Spence, Rosario Banda, Brock Roberts, Barton Buenavista, Jerome Boone. Second row: Adam Williamson, Eddie Herena, Danny Nha Ho, Phil Senegal, Carlos Flores. Front row: Van Wilson, Phoeun You, “Zakee” Hutchinson and Alexei Ruiz

It is also with gratitude that in 2017 Kid CAT was able to accomplish some important goals. Among these were finalizing the Kid CAT curriculum and facilitator’s manual so that they could be sent out to all of you, creating a Youth Offender Program (YOP) curriculum and beginning to run classes for YOP inmates, responding to all correspondence sent by our supporters, sponsoring a fundraiser (which helped raise more than $8,000 to benefit programs that assist children with incarcerated parents), and holding a hygiene and donation drive to help support the Bay Area’s homeless youth.

Additionally, this year we participated in two filming projects. The first, with Sonoma State University professor and counseling department chair, Dr. Adam Zagelbaum, is a short educational film highlighting the difference between guilt and shame. It will be used to help train future volunteers and counselors.

The second project is a documentary-style film that follows four of our members through the prison system and documents their experiences. It is being filmed and produced by Kid CAT vice-chairman Sha Wallace-Stepter in collaboration with volunteers Avery Peterson, Lulu Orozco, and Brian Asey. It is our hope that this particular film will work to inform the public about the experiences of youth offenders in the adult justice system.

Lizzie Buchen at the Kid C.A.T. Banquet

Kid CAT wants to thank everyone who worked tirelessly to help us reach these goals. It is with a great deal of gratitude that we close out 2017 and turn our attention to the new goals of 2018.

This year, one of Kid CAT’s main goals is to seek out and create new opportunities and partnerships for advocating in the realm of youth and juvenile justice. It is our hope to hold at least two symposiums by the end of 2018 with this specific purpose in mind. It is our intention that at least one of these events will be held with local youth probation departments in order to help inform them of more productive strategies in dealing with youth offenders.

Furthermore, Kid CAT would like to expand its San Quentin YOP program. We have set the goal of finding and getting approval for additional space by March. It is our desire to create a more consistent meeting space for these young men and give them more support and opportunity for programming.

Other goals include utilizing our resources to support new legislation introduced in 2018, strengthening our inside relationship with the Education Department in order to provide additional educational support for YOP offenders, continuing our charity work with the Avary Foundation and the Huckleberry House, finding new strategies to include more youth offenders’ voices from various prisons through Kid CAT Speaks, and creating a connection and partnership with a transitional house that will assist Kid CAT with the reintegration needs of youth offenders.

It is our hope that 2018 will be as productive and inspiring as 2017. As all of the new legislation begins to take hold in 2018, we encourage everyone to take advantage of these opportunities and work to create meaningful changes in their own lives.

In closing, our organization would also like to extend its congratulations and gratitude to the San Quentin News for their great work in reaching their 100th issue.

The SQ News has always been a strong supporter of Kid CAT, and the justice issues surrounding youth offenders. Without their support, Kid CAT would not be able to reach out to all of you. Thank you SQ News!!

http://sanquentinnews.com/super-bowl-coach-king-marcher-devotes-time-kidcat/

KID CAT graduates 43 in its fourth cycle

Over the years, I have come to believe that life only matters in the influence and meaning it has on other lives. This is because of the crime I committed nearly 20 years ago, which left nothing but hurt and devastation in the lives of others.

It is the idea of constructive influence and meaning on other lives that guides the majority of decisions and choices I make daily. Nowhere is this more important to me than in my new role as Kid CAT chairman.

It is my purpose as Kid CAT’s new leader to build meaningful relationships with everyone who is part of our organization, while connecting us with all of you out there. It is my personal goal to inspire us all to tap into our natural talents in order to serve our larger community as a whole.

I believe great leadership starts and ends with each of us growing and learning as a result of our interactions with one another. For this reason, it is my hope that I might serve Kid CAT in such a way that each of us leaves our relationship more attuned with who we are as people and better equipped to serve our organizational mission.

In my new role with Kid CAT, I want to tell all of you how inspired I am by the many letters we receive to Kid CAT Speaks each month. They serve as humbling reminders of how significant the work is and how each of us in the organization represents the population of youth offenders.

Unfortunately, I feel like this responsibility is sometimes lost on us in the daily grind of life at San Quentin. It is important for us to be reminded of the meaningful connection we share with all of you. That is why your letters are so important to us, and we have implemented a new procedure to make sure we respond to every letter we receive.

In fact, we recently received a letter from a young man who was extremely frustrated with the Youth Offender Program (YOP). We were struck by his deep desire for transformation and change, yet the YOP program was unable to take advantage of his desire.

For that reason, Kid CAT has recently begun working with a group of YOP prisoners at San Quentin to create a curriculum designed for YOP prisoners. We hope to have this curriculum done and ready to send out to all of you by the middle of 2017.

Many of the letters we receive from the “more mature” juvenile offenders express the need for a deeper level of growth and insight. We are making it our priority for 2017 to have Kid CAT’s curriculum and facilitators’ manual ready to send out as well.

Our curriculum team is meeting to discuss needed changes and strategies for the best way to accomplish this task. We hope the curriculum will make a meaningful difference for all of you seeking to gain a deeper level of understanding about yourselves and the crimes you committed.

Additionally, Kid CAT has taken a step toward being more inclusive to our population. Recently, the membership voted to reserve 10 percent of our membership capacity for those who committed their crimes between the ages of 20-25.

It is our hope that in the near future we can help persuade lawmakers to extend SB261 to apply through the age of 25, as the neuroscience clearly indicates this is when the brain fully matures. We believe by recognizing this, we will provide more credibility with those we hope to persuade, while offering those in this age group the opportunity to speak for themselves.

Lastly, one goal in 2017 will be to assist CDCR to take a more restorative approach to justice, as envisioned by Secretary Scott Kernan. Another goal is to support legislation proposed by organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition.

Major changes are on the horizon for the criminal justice system. We encourage our members and supporters to take advantage of every opportunity to work for positive changes in their lives.

Reflecting on 2017 with appreciation and gratitude

Kid CAT’s new chair seeks to build meaningful relationships